Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was in Coimbatore on Friday to campaign for Lok Sabha elections, made an unexpected pitstop enroute to the rally ground to present a surprise gift for alliance party leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
Rahul Gandhi, along with Tamil Nadu Congress President K. Selvaperunthagai and a few other leaders visited a sweet shop in Coimbatore and bought sweets for Stalin on Friday evening. Reaching the campaign site, Staling received Rahul Gandhi with a hug. The Tamil Nadu chief minister was visibly surprised when Rahul presented him with the sweets. Congress shared a video of the ‘sweet moment’ on X, formerly Twitter.
Shri @RahulGandhi gifts famous Mysore Pak to Shri @mkstalin.
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 12, 2024
Celebrating the loving relationship he shares with the people of Tamil Nadu. pic.twitter.com/Lw8vYrCC8L
Responding to the video, Stalin tweeted, “Touched and overwhelmed by the 'sweet gesture' from my brother @RahulGandhi. On June 4th, #INDIA will surely deliver him a sweet victory!”
Rahul’s gesture comes amidst Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attack against him and a few other Opposition leaders for eating non-vegetarian food during the Sawan month. Modi made a veiled attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday and accused opposition leaders of demonstrating a 'Mughal mindset' and "teasing" the people of the country by consuming non-vegetarian food in the holy month of Sawan and posting a video of it online.
"The law does not stop anyone from eating anything, and neither does Modi. All are free to have vegetarian and non-vegetarian food whenever they want but the motive of these leaders was different."
"The Mughals used to get satisfaction by vandalising temples, not by defeating kings. They used to derive pleasure out of it. Likewise, they (INDIA bloc leaders) tease the people of the country by releasing such videos in the month of Sawan and trying to consolidate their vote banks," the prime minister said. "In the month of Sawan, they went to the house of a person who was handed a punishment by a court and is on bail and cherished the taste of mutton. They made a video of it to tease the people of the country," Modi said.
BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai is contesting Lok Sabha polls from the Coimbatore constituency. The ruling DMK has fielded P. Ganapathy Rajkumar and AIADMK has fielded Singai G. Ramachandran.
